VALDOSTA — A protester was arrested Thursday in Valdosta for carrying an obscene sign at a demonstration in Valdosta, according to the county sheriff.

A move that one of the state’s top First Amendment lawyers said is unconstitutional.

Sydney Caitlin Smith, 31, of Valdosta was arrested at a protest near the historic old courthouse at the intersection of Hill Avenue and North Ashley Street around 6 p.m., Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk said.

The protest was sparked by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Floyd, a handcuffed black man, died May 25 after a white police officer pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes despite Floyd’s “I can’t breathe” pleas. A video of his death quickly went viral, sparking a week of violent protests in cities across the nation.

The Lowndes County arrest of the protestor was made by a sheriff’s deputy, the sheriff said.

Paulk suggested she was charged under a state law that forbids displaying obscenity where people 14 and younger can see it but provided no additional clarification.

Protests have been held at or near the old courthouse daily since last Saturday.

A media law professor questioned whether the arrest is constitutional.

Jonathan Peters, a media law professor at the University of Georgia, said that in the 1971 case of Cohen v. California, the Supreme Court ruled the use of profanity in public as political speech cannot be banned.

In the Cohen case, a man was arrested on a charge of disturbing the peace for wearing a jacket with an obscene anti-draft message in a California courthouse.

“One man’s vulgarity is another’s lyric,” according to the high court’s opinion in the Cohen case.

The Supreme Court, in deciding what counts as obscene, decided years ago that the words in question “appeals to the prurient interest,” or, in other words, is erotic, Peters said.

“I don’t think that this message (criticizing the sheriff) can be considered erotic,” he said.

Cheyenne Padgett, one of the organizers of the protest, had started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money to get Smith out of jail.

“It turned out the bond was only $90, and we found out someone had already paid it for her, so we’re refunding the (GoFundMe) money,” she said.

Padgett is part of a Facebook group called Valdosta People Protest which has been organizing the demonstrations. She said the group was “not really an organized thing; we had to learn pretty much how to organize it during the week.”

She said her group had asked protesters not to use vulgar language so as to avoid problems with law enforcement, but some people who were passersby earlier in the day returned later with signs, which is how the sign in question slipped through.

“We’ve been trying really hard to keep the peace,” she said.

Padgett said several lawyers had contacted Valdosta People Protest’s administrators to offer help for Smith, but she wasn’t sure if any of the lawyers had actively taken up the case.

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VALDOSTA — A protester was arrested Thursday in Valdosta for carrying an obscene sign at a demonstration in Valdosta, according to the county sheriff.

A move that one of the state’s top First Amendment lawyers said is unconstitutional.

Sydney Caitlin Smith, 31, of Valdosta was arrested at a protest near the historic old courthouse at the intersection of Hill Avenue and North Ashley Street around 6 p.m., Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk said.

The protest was sparked by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Floyd, a handcuffed black man, died May 25 after a white police officer pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes despite Floyd’s “I can’t breathe” pleas. A video of his death quickly went viral, sparking a week of violent protests in cities across the nation.

The Lowndes County arrest of the protestor was made by a sheriff’s deputy, the sheriff said.

Paulk suggested she was charged under a state law that forbids displaying obscenity where people 14 and younger can see it but provided no additional clarification. 

Protests have been held at or near the old courthouse daily since last Saturday.

A media law professor questioned whether the arrest is constitutional.

Jonathan Peters, a media law professor at the University of Georgia, said that in the 1971 case of Cohen v. California, the Supreme Court ruled the use of profanity in public as political speech cannot be banned.

In the Cohen case, a man was arrested on a charge of disturbing the peace for wearing a jacket with an obscene anti-draft message in a California courthouse.

“One man’s vulgarity is another’s lyric,” according to the high court’s opinion in the Cohen case.

The Supreme Court, in deciding what counts as obscene, decided years ago that the words in question “appeals to the prurient interest,” or, in other words, is erotic, Peters said.

“I don’t think that this message (criticizing the sheriff) can be considered erotic,” he said.

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VALDOSTA — A protester was arrested Thursday in Valdosta for carrying an obscene sign at a demonstration in Valdosta, according to the county sheriff.

Sydney Caitlin Smith, 31, of Valdosta was arrested at a protest near the historic old courthouse at the intersection of Hill Avenue and North Ashley Street at about 6 p.m., Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk said.

The protest was sparked by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Floyd, a handcuffed black man, died May 25 after a white police officer pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes despite Floyd’s “I can’t breathe” pleas. A video of his death quickly went viral, sparking a week of violent protests in cities across the nation.

The arrest was made by sheriff’s deputies, the sheriff said.

Paulk said she is charged under a state law that forbids displaying obscenity where those people 14 and younger can see it.

Protests have been held at or near the old courthouse daily since Saturday.

Terry Richards is senior reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times.